Known connectors having the above-noted capabilities of insulation-piercing and terminal defining are typically comprised of a conductive member having a flat web portion with sharpened teeth extending upwardly of opposed side margins of the web portion, the web portion having a flat elongate extent distal from the teeth and providing a terminal or contact in the form of a lug or socket. In one known connector type, seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,395,381, 3,696,322 and 4,012,101, the transverse extent of the web portion, i.e., the spacing between opposed teeth, is selected to be of extent greater than the width of the individual flat conductor to which connection is to be made. In assembling the connector and conductor, all teeth approach the cable in registry with the cable electrical insulation and pass through the insulation without interference with the conductor. At this juncture, the teeth are deformed downwardly through the insulative casing interiorly of side margins of the conductor and into insulation-displacing or -piercing electrical contact with the conductor. In another known connector type, the spacing between opposed teeth is less than the width of the flat conductor, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,402. As the teeth engage the multiconductor cable, they pass through the cable insulation and into interfering relation with the underside of the conductor, deforming the conductor and electrically engaging side margins as the connector passes fully through the cable. The teeth are then directed downwardly onto the cable insulation, displacing the same and electrically engaging and piercing through the conductor.
In these known connectors, the insulation piercing teeth on each marginal side of the web portion of the connector are in longitudinal alignment and function identically in their passage through the electrical cable. In the first-mentioned instance, teeth pass through insulation only prior to being bent back upon the cable and in the second-noted instance, all teeth interfere with the conductor in passing through the cable prior to being bent back thereupon. To the extent that these prior connectors provide both electrical connection and afford strain relief to the multiconductor cable, both these performance characteristics are dependent upon and derived from side margin teeth of such common longitudinal dispositions.